The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 (“the Act”) is not due to come into force until the first week of March. This gives employers some time to consider the changes the Act will implement, time to update working practices, policies and contracts, and time to “jump on the bandwagon” (pun intended – see below).

Cases from the courts continue to emphasise the duty of care on employers to take reasonable steps to protect their employees from the reasonably foreseeable harm which may arise as a result of treatment by other employees, even where such behaviour might not amount to bullying in the workplace.

The origins of the “gig economy” can be traced back to the worldwide recession in 2008/2009, when people began to take on shorter term freelance “gig” type roles (involving personal service) which went outside the normal parameters of the employer/employee relationship. Very quickly, internet applications to host those services and put users in touch with the service providers came into being. These applications are now called platforms. While technology has kept up with the increase of these platforms, employment law has not, particularly in Ireland.

According to latest statistics, claims of age discrimination made up 14% of cases raised by members of the public to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (“IHREC”) under Irish employment legislation. Compulsory and contractual retirement ages in particular have become an increasing area of litigation in Ireland in recent times.

At the end of 2017, the Workplace Relations Commission published a Code of Practice on Longer Working (the “Code”). The Code contains guidance for employers and employees on managing the run up to retirement and dealing with requests to work beyond retirement. This has been an area of increasing focus for employers over recent years as the proportion of older workers continues to rise.